The East-West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG or Council) provides a forum for local governments of the bi-state St. Louis area to work together to solve problems that cross jurisdictional boundaries. The geographic region that East-West Gateway has served since 1965 is the 4,500 square miles encompassed by the City of St. Louis; Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis counties in Missouri; Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois. East-West Gateway’s designation as a regional council of governments (COG) means that the agency has the civic responsibility to set the table for cooperative planning and problem-solving among and between any of its member local governments who believe that they can accomplish better things by working together than by acting separately. Although much of this cooperative planning takes place among the eight major jurisdictions of the region, it is not uncommon to find several small cities and towns clustered around a community betterment initiative at East-West Gateway. These initiatives address issues as diverse as tax policy, environmental quality, public safety, workforce development, access to jobs, economic development, community planning, and others that might be of interest to members of the Board of Directors.

Missouri Foundation for Health is building a more equitable future through collaboration, convening, knowledge sharing, and strategic investment. Working in partnership with communities and nonprofits, MFH is transforming systems to eliminate inequities within all aspects of health and addressing the social and economic factors that shape health outcomes.

We partner with the City of St. Louis to restore, maintain and sustain Forest Park as one of America's great urban public parks — now and forever.

Greater St. Louis, Inc. brings together business and civic leaders to create jobs, expand inclusive economic growth and improve St. Louis’ global competitiveness. We are dedicated to St. Louis’ growth and prosperity as a global metropolitan region that expands economic opportunity for all. We speak with a unified voice, lead with a bold agenda and act as one metropolitan region anchored by a vibrant urban core.

Optimist International is an association of more than 2,900 Optimist Clubs around the world dedicated to "Bringing Out the Best in Kids." Adult volunteers join Optimist Clubs to conduct positive service projects in their communities aimed at providing a helping hand to youth. With their upbeat attitude, Optimist Club members help empower young people to be the best that they can be. Each Optimist Club determines the needs of the young people in its community and conducts programs to meet those needs. Every year, Optimists conduct 65,000 service projects and serve well over six million young people.

At HLM, we infuse health literacy strategies into every aspect of health information to make it easier to understand and act upon. By building programs that embrace health literacy best practices, we are able to increase understanding of health information in new and exciting areas. Our award-winning, interdisciplinary team of creative content and usability experts, has more than 100 years of combined experience in health literacy, public health and policy, research, plain language medical writing, communications, and graphic design. Over the last 10 years, we've become national thought leaders in health literacy.

Gateway Arch Park Foundation's mission is to ensure the Gateway Arch, its grounds, neighboring public spaces, and attractions will be a vital, welcoming, well-supported resource for the community and nation for generations to come. Find out how you can be part of the transformation by visiting www.archpark.org.

Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois provides the world's premier leadership experience to girls in Southern Illinois. We serve approximately 10,007 girl members and 3,686 adult volunteers. Our mission and main focus here at Girl Scouts is to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.

The St. Louis Integrated Health Network (IHN), through collaboration and partnership, strives for quality, accessible and affordable healthcare services for all residents of Metropolitan St. Louis. The IHN encourages collaboration between community health centers, hospitals systems, academic medical schools, public health departments and other safety net institutions toward the common goal of increasing healthcare access and quality for the medically under-served. Since 2007, IHN has administered our flagship Community Referral Coordinator (CRC) program to connect patients to community-based primary care homes and navigate the overall health delivery system. CRC's connect hospital patients from either the inpatient units or emergency room with a primary care provider for follow-up and preventive care. The Referral Coordinators are employees of the IHN who work on-site in the hospital emergency departments and inpatient units. From June 2007 through March 2017, the CRC Program has provided 109,101 patient encounters. During 2016, the CRC Program had 15,505 patient encounters with 51% of individuals connected to a provider. The program currently serves patients of BJC HealthCare Barnes-Jewish Hospital, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, Mercy Hospital Jefferson, SSM Health DePaul Health Center, SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, SSM Health St. Mary’s Health Center, and Phelps County Regional Medical Center.

Gene Slay’s Girls & Boys Club offers a variety of programs to support the growth and health of youth served. Programs are offered in five areas: Academic Support & Assistance; Athletics, Aquatics, & Recreation; Character & Citizenship; Healthy Lifestyles; and the Arts. The programs are designed to meet the needs of the community by providing an opportunity for youth to acquire the skills needed to build self-respect and graduate high school.

Through an individualized, holistic, and multi-year commitment, CB empowers students from disadvantaged backgrounds to complete higher education and enter successful careers.